


A Path Unknown

by OwlofLittleFaith



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Albus Dumbledore Has Questionable Intentions, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Bellatrix is Still Insane, Good Lucius Malfoy, Homophobia, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Male Slash, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Somewhat Canon Compliant - kind of, Somewhat Good Voldemort (Harry Potter), Sort Of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:55:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27541927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwlofLittleFaith/pseuds/OwlofLittleFaith
Summary: Harry Potter - the Boy Who Lived. All who know him know of the trouble he has gotten himself into on many, many occasions. What happens when our dear Harry finds himself in not only the past, but in an alternate reality? What might become of him and his faithful friends Ron and Hermione?Confusion and mayhem is sure to come, of that Harry is certain. Speaking of confusion - why is Dumbledore acting so suspicious? And who the hell keeps sending him those blasted letters with advice?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, James Potter/Severus Snape, Lily Evans & Severus Snape - Friendship, Remus Lupin/Lucius Malfoy, Sirius Black/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	1. Familiar and Unfamiliar Faces

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to preface this fanfiction by saying that while Dumbledore isn't going to be an angel in this fanfiction, I won't be bashing him into the ground either. I'm not going to make Voldemort a saint either, I simply plan to twist their characters a bit.
> 
> I would also like to mention that some characters (like James Potter and Lily Evans) may seem out of the character that fanon has made them into. 
> 
> Chapter length may vary as this is only a fun little story I'm writing for, well, fun! Don't get me wrong, this isn't going to be a total crack fic - but it's going to be rather light hearted the majority of the time - maybe. 
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, though I feel it is quite redundant to state this.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so the tale begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always see young Sirius portrayed as this cool, laid back character. I however, feel like a young Sirius would be much more comparable to a hyper puppy.

It was early in the morning when Harry found himself in a rather interesting situation. In fact, this situation had to be the most confusing thing he had ever experienced. What exactly just happened? Was the question on his mind, begging to be answered. It was a question he couldn't answer, for the events that led to this specific moment had been far too confusing for his tired brain to comprehend.

He had been sitting in the library with Ron and Hermione the evening before - studying for a wave of tests and quizzes that had been dumped upon them by all of their professors. Harry had been tired, his eyes drooping every time he dared to blink. All that could be heard was Hermione's frantic whispering about statistics and failure as she lectured them about putting off their work.

Ron had went to snack on a chocolate frog that Harry had given him when a book came flying at their heads - literally. The book even had wings. "Ronald, watch--!" Hermione's warning came a beat too late as the book collided with the back of the freckled teen's head. Harry watched as the book then flapped around his cursing friend, opting to hover in the middle of their table. Hermione was glancing around, trying to spot the person who had sent the book after them yet found no one around. Not even Madam Pince was in the library - which was an oddity in its own right.

"Reckon it's a plot to kill you, mate?" Ron whispered to Harry, munching on his chocolate frog as he hopped from foot to foot. Harry shrugged as Hermione reached out to touch the hovering book, her eyes wide and practically glued to the sight of its fluffy wings. "'Hermione! Don't!" Ron tried to stop her, eyes widening as the book began to glow brighter and brighter the closer his bookish friend's hand got. Both Harry and Ron attempted to pounce on her just to prevent what was most likely a trap from being activated, however, by the time they collided with her it was too late.

A bright flash of blinding white light engulfed the library as the trio fell to the ground, the book wedged between them as they tried to get it out of Hermione's grasp. The look on her face was rather disturbing, Harry couldn't helped but to think in that moment as she seemed to be hypnotized by the strange and obviously dangerous book. The two boys wrestled admist the blinding light until finally they managed to tear it out of their friend's surprisingly strong hold. It was only then that the white light began to fade away.

Groaning, Harry rolled over and laid limply on the floor as the room around him seemed to spin. What just happened? His eyebrows raised as he noticed that the tables were round instead of square like they had been about a minute ago. Ron, even as oblivious as he was, noticed the subtle differences as well. Where had all their books and quills gone? 

"Mate, whatever just happened, it _cannot_ be good." Ron whispered as Hermione seemed to snap out of her trance. Laughter could be heard coming closer and closer to the library doors, and it was with a stroke of luck that Harry managed to shove his two friends behind a bookcase before they could be seen. Harry was not so fortunate, however, as a familiar yet younger sounding voice called out to him - well, sort of.

"James, mate! Thought you could hide from ol' Padfoot, did you?" Harry was frozen in place as he resisted the urge to turn around and hug the living daylights out of the boy who sounded so much like Sirius. Had they somehow ended up in the past? That might explain the different tables. "C'mon, Moony and Wormtail are waiting for us in the Great Hall--" Harry had turned around, albeit very slowly and almost cautiously. Hermione and Ron were whispering frantically at him now, trying to pull him out of sight. Harry, however, knew that it was too late to hide now that Sirius' younger self had caught sight of him.

Suddenly there was a wand being pointed at his nose. "You're not James." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Harry shivered as he took a nervous step back, not really certain as to what was going on. "I've never seen you before, especially not in Gryffindor. Who are you?" Harry bit his lip nervously as the wand was now digging into the tip of his nose.

"Y-You're right... I'm not James!" Harry squeaked, stumbling away. "I-I'm Harry, and I have no idea how we- I got here!" he rambled fearfully, nearly going cross-eyed as he stared directly at the tip of the wand in his face. His mind was a muddled mess of confusion and theories about what had happened to have caused this. _What kind of book was that?_

Sirius slowly lowered his wand, noticing that Harry hadn't drawn his own wand even with an immediate threat directly in his face. Raising an eyebrow, Sirius only stared at Harry cautiously as said boy practically shook with nervousness. Harry felt a hand grab his ankle and barely managed to look back as Ron pulled him behind the bookcase, causing him to fall with an _oomph_. It wasn't long before another person entered the library.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, ever the Gryffindor, came charging into the library to investigate the sudden wave of magical backlash that had quite literally shaken the school. Unsure if such a magical feat was performed by a threat, he had made sure to draw his wand in preparation. What the old man had not expected was a one Sirius Black standing near a bookcase with his arm hanging limply at his side, wand in hand. At first he thought to accuse his mischevious student, however the sound of frantic whispering made him reconsider.

"Professor!" Sirius exclaimed loudly as he noticed Albus approaching him. "I, the ever faithful Gryffindor and prankster extraordinaire, have found the source of the magic!" muffled snickers could be heard from behind the bookcase, making Albus' eyes narrow in thought. A couple of misbehaving students then? With a flick of his wand, he levitated the bookcase out of the way and came face to face with three teens dressed in Gryffindor robes. What was confusing, however, was the fact that he had never seen these children before in his life and was quite confident they hadn't taken part in the sorting.

"Yes, yes, Mr Black - if it weren't the fact that I have never seen these three students in my life I would have thought you to be involved." He watched as his student feigned offense, placing a hand upon his heart dramatically. Albus then diverted his attention to the three elephants in the room. The three teens were huddled together, whispering frantically at each other. The girl, Albus observed, was in the process of smacking a ginger across his head. The other boy, whom looked a lot like his student James Potter, was glancing at him nervously.

Clearing his throat, Albus watched the three students' heads swivel towards him. The girl straightened herself up swiftly while the boys simply looked down at their feet in contemplation. Sirius stood behind him, hyperly bouncing on the balls of his feet as he watched the scene before him with great interest. The boy wasn't even trying to hide his noseyness, it seemed.

"How interesting it is to find three students - whom I do not recognize - to be the source of a very powerful explosion of magic." He noticed he had sounded more skeptical than he intended to, but then decided that it was only reasonable that he should sound suspicious of them. "Surely there is a reasonable explanation for such an occurance, yes?" 

The trio seemed to be at a loss for words - or perhaps they lacked a concrete explanation. Albus sighed internally as he waited for the girl, who was obviously the thinker of the group given her stance in the middle, to give him some sort of explanation for their presence. The temptation to use legilimency was ever growing as his patience continued to waver. He had to attend a meeting with the Board of Governers in no more then an hour - a meeting that he requested at that. 

"W-We're not quite sure what happened, professor..." the James Potter lookalike piped up, scratching his head. "It had something to do with a strange b-book." The boy looked over at his female friend pleadingly, most likely wanting her to explain further. Suddenly, there was a rustingly from behind another one of the bookcases. Oddly enough - upon closer inspection - it turned out to be an arctic fox with glowing violet eyes. Albus aimed his wand at the creature, getting the feeling that this fox was not all that it appeared to be.

The fox yipped in panic, darting away as soon it noticed his wand. It was Sirius that made him lower his wand. "C'mon, professor! It's just a little fox, why are you trying to hex it?" sighing, Albus put his wand away. The fox then climbed up Sirius' leg and torso and perched itself on the boy's shoulder, licking his cheek in thanks. 

* * *

Harry panic grew more and more the longer they remained under the headmaster's skeptical glare. Thankfully, Hermione had gathered her bearings and now looked ready to step in. Though, it was clear that she understood no better then Ron and himself. "We're not quite sure what happened, as Harry said, but whatever brought us here had something to do with a strange, flying book." Hermione glanced around and took in the subtle differences in the library. "It almost looks like we've ended up in a past of sorts, though I can't say for certain."

The fox yipped as if to confirm her statement but tilted its head at the same time. Harry received the feeling that time travel was only one aspect of what had happened as those glowing eyes stared pointedly into his. Who even was this fox, anyway? Dumbledore gave them what seemed to be a contemplative look before Harry felt a subtle pressure in his head - legilimency, he guessed. Harry took a moment to glare at the man before breaking eye-contact with him, ending the man's connection to his mind rather abruptly.

He noticed how intrigued Sirius looked from behind the headmaster, looking like a puppy who just received a treat. Harry resisted the urge to smile at that thought, never having seen such life in his godfather's eyes before. The fox jumped down from Sirius' shoulder and climbed onto Harry's, nuzzling his cheek soothingly as if it could sense how his thoughts were beginning to spiral into unwanted territory. He allowed a small smile to appear on his face as he gently scratched behind the fox's ears, earning himself a yip.

"Time travel, you say?" the headmaster hummed, glancing over at Sirius. "Mr Black, if you would be so kind as to inform Professor McGonagall that the situation has been handled?" Saluting, Sirius hurried to obey. "Perhaps, until you find a way to return to your own place in time, you would like to continue your education?" Hermione was nodding eagerly, which really shouldn't have surprised Harry in the slightest.

Harry shrugged while Ron nodded along with their bushy-haired friend. Was this a good idea? Most certainly not. Even the fox was looking apprehensive of the idea, and Harry had a feeling that the small animal's judgement was somehow worth keeping in mind. At the same time, Harry trusted the headmaster's judgement and knew that the man was most likely the most trustworthy person to listen to during this chaotic mess he had stumbled into. 

"Might I have your names? It would be easier if you were to all share the same last name - perhaps convince everyone who does not already know of your predicament that you're siblings who have transferred here on a last minute decision." Harry and Ron both shared a glance, and in a shared moment of intelligence decided that Hermione's last name would work perfect.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione Granger!" Harry responded, pointing to each person respectively. "Hermione's a muggleborn so her last name won't be well known, if known at all." Dumbledore nodded in approval.

"-but none of us look anything like each other! Won't that be an issue, headmaster?" Ron snickered as Hermione began to pace.

"Well, 'mione, adoption does exist." Hermione smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead, quietly cursing herself - in uncharacteristic vulgar language - for her own stupidity. Dumbeldore merely chuckled as he led the three gryffindors out of the library and to their common room.

"I'll have clothes and toiletries delivered to you by owl no later than tomorrow afternoon, for now you may want to borrow such things off of your dormmates - and trust me, I do not believe that they will mind." They arrived at Gryffindor Tower just as dinner ended and the students were returning to their common rooms for the evening. It was then that they ran into four mischevous students, one of them being Sirius, chatting just behind the portrait hole. 

"Moony, Prongs, Wormy! These are the bunch I was telling you about," the boy was nearly bouncing on his feet, "y'know, the ones that appeared out of now--" Dumbledore cleared his throat before anything more could be said. Harry sighed in relief but then tensed when a young, very much alive James Potter - well, he assumed it was his father as he looked a lot like Harry - started squinting at him, circling him. 

_His life would never be normal, would it...?_


	2. Lion on a Warpath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets introduced to the rest of the Marauders, and Harry gets a glimpse of things that make him question if this really was their version of the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter is here! I suppose I should also mention that there is a very slight Hetalia crossover - but not enough that it is tagged. You will not see any canon Hetalia characters.

"Bloody hell, he does look like me!" Harry scratched his neck nervously as James continued to circle him. "Those eyes though, reminds me of Evans'..." the four Marauders collectively shudder at the name, as if saying the name would summon her here. Harry could only assume that they were talking about his mother, Lily. "Wonder if he's got a similar temper..." Harry was not liking the way this conversation was going.

"Lay off of him, Prongs. Leave him alone - if you're going to scrutinize the new students, at least include the other two!" A boy that could only be Remus Lupin swatted James' head playfully. Appearing bashful, James stood tall before bowing dramatically.

"Forgive me, good sir," he says jokingly in an overly posh accent, "James Potter, at your service!" Harry heard Hermione snort from behind him and resisted the urge to do so himself. James wrapped an arm around his shoulder as he began to dramatically give them a tour of the common room, insisting that they had to know the exact order the books went in on the bookshelf in the corner. "Evans is not a force to mess with," was the only explanation Ron got when he had asked about the why of the matter.

Remus was quietly discussing their new course load to Hermione. The fox from the library had yipped and growled each time Dumbledore had attempted to take it with him when he had dropped them off, and in the end had been allowed to stay when Hermione had cleverly insisted that the small animal was Harry's new familiar. It was after a very painful bite and multiple scratches on Sirius' part that the fox was discovered to be female - they had all sworn to never fight with the feisty creature again after Pettigrew nearly lost a hand.

Said fox was given the name vix and had been staring at him intently for the past hour - as if trying to get a message across. Every time Harry made eye contact with her it felt as if words were being forced into his mind in a similar way that legilimency forced you to view your own memories at the caster's discretion. However, the words sounded incoherent to Harry, disconnected from any context or sentence structure. He opted to ignore it until it became a problem, as he did with many of his predicaments. Just as James was finishing up his grand lecture about how Gryffindor was the greates house in all of Hogwarts, someone entered the portrait hole looking to be on a warpath. 

Lily Evans, Harry had to remind himself that she wasn't Lily Potter at this point, stood in front of the portrait hole with her hands on her hips and her eyes set in a fierce glare. Harry could hear James gulp from beside him and noticed that he appeared to be swetting profusely. Lily then marched in for the attack as she wrestled Harry - who she had most likely mistaken for James - to the floor.

"Listen here, Potter!" The redhead snarled down at him as he stared up at her in both shock and fear. He could hear James tentatively trying to catch the girl's attention, but all his efforts were for not as a wand was pressed to Harry's throat. "I have _had it_ with you and your _horrible_ games. You _will_ apologize for what you said, or _so help me--_ "

"Lily!" Remus butted in, pulling the angry teen off of him carefully. "That's not James! He-" Remus pointed towards James, "-is James!" Lily stared between Harry and James in bewilderment for a moment before releasing a guilty sigh.

"I am _so sorry!_ " she engulfed Harry in a hug, causing Harry to tense slightly until she let go. "You just look so much like James and I assumed I was seeing double out of rage and--" Lily continued to ramble out apologies and excuses until Harry eventually cut in and assured her that all was well. The moment after Lily realised that she had been given, she went back to glaring - now at the real James. "Anyway, I know you heard what I yelled at poor Harry here, Potter. Do I need to repeat myself?"

James was obviously meant to say no and begin an hour long spiel about how terribly sorry he was for whatever he had done. James sighed softly, the confident gleam in his eyes disappearing as he glanced around to make sure no one else was listening in on them. "I didn't mean what I said - it was part of the plan, remember? I had to get him to stop hanging around us - you know how his dormmates are!" The two seemed to forget about the three complete strangers listening in on them. 

Lily's glare did not soften. "Was Sev in on the plan, James? Did _Sev_ know that you weren't saying those things to him because you meant them?" James winced, and Harry could see the regret in his hazel eyes. 

"...his reaction had to be real, he _had_ to think I meant it." Even Harry, who didn't have a sliver of context on the situation he was hearing about, could see the pathetic reasoning laid out before them. James seemed to realise this as well. " _Fuck._ I've only made things worse, haven't I?"

Lily, finally seeing that James had figured out just how badly he had screwed up, softened her tone. "He's in the hospital wing now - better to apologize sooner than later." Harry glanced at the other Marauders, who gave them the _pretend you heard nothing_ look. The trio didn't argue, knowing that it probably wasn't intended for them to hear about such a personal sounding conversation.

Vix whined softly, hypnotizing eyes looking into Lily's as she pawed her way across the room. Harry began to wonder why this fox was with them, why she was so vehement about staying close to him. He knew that Professor McGonagall could turn herself into a cat, and Sirius a grim, so maybe this fox was another animagus? If that was the case, what was her intentions?

Focussing once more on the scene before him, he watched as the fox attempted to comfort a distressed and tired Lily and a very guilty looking James. Not even a moment later, James rushed out of the common room, a familiar cloak clutched in his hands tightly as he stumbled through the portrait hole. Deciding that the common room had become much too quiet, Sirius decided that this was the perfect time to start trouble.

Harry watched as Remus side-eyed Sirius, obviously knowing that gleam in Sirius' grey eyes better than he did. After a session of quiet whispering, Remus began to grin as well, eyes sparkling with mischief. Their eyes then turned to him as Sirius strutted over confidently and leaned an arm over Harry's head. 

"So, Harry was it?" Sirius cocked his head to the side, giving him the kind of look some of the girls would give him back in his own time - world? Eh, they still weren't sure exactly what had happened - and it wasn't like they could speak fox. Nodding shyly, not used to someone being so close too him in the way Sirius was. "Pretending you didn't just randomly appear in the library out of thin air, like I heard you tell ol' Dumbles, where are you from - have any family?"

Harry had no idea why Sirius was asking him these things and was thoroughly lost. A snort sounded from the corner of the room as the group remembered that Lily was still present. "You know, Black, you're lead ups are as bad as Potter's. No wonder no one will date you for more than a week," Remus was quite obviously trying to stop himself from agreeing with her as she turned her intense green eyes to the young werewolf. "I hear you snickering, Remus. You're not any better!"

Harry watched as Remus flushed in embarrassment, cheeks burning red. "How am I not any better? I wasn't the one doing the flirting in my case!"

He glanced back at Ron and Hermione. Ron seemed to be enjoying the show, having seen his fair share of relationship drama before. Although, Harry supposed that this was more so teasing than actual drama. Hermione already had her nose in a book, though anyone could tell that she was listening to the banter closely. Meanwhile, Remus opened his mouth to speak once more.

"Anyway, at least I'm _in_ a relationship, unlike _you_ , Lily." It was Lily's turn to blush this time around as she spluttered. 

"It's not my fault that I don't fancy anyone!" she replied defensively. To Harry, it felt like he was watching one of the show's Aunt Petunia would watch on the tellie when she thought no one was around. "Besides, I'd rather date a shoe than any of the guys here."

Lily then excused herself and went towards the girl's dorms, making sure to take Hermione with her to show her to her room. Remus had then decided to help find Ron's dorm, leaving Sirius alone with Harry with a sneaky wink that Harry pretended not to notice.

"So, got a surname?" Sirius piped up casually, slinging an arm around his shoulder. 

"Granger. Harry Granger." Harry plopped down on the sofa, that was still the same as Harry remembered it. "Is there a point to your questions?"

Sirius laughed, as if he couldn't contain it any longer. "Am I not being obvious enough - or was Lily right in saying that I'm terrible at flirting?" Harry tilted his head, still feeling confused as his oblivious mind tried to comprehend what Sirius was saying. "I'm trying to lead up to flirting with you, Granger."

It was at that moment that Harry decided that he _really_ didn't want to think about the implications of someone who in his time was old enough to be his father flirting with him. "I l-literally just met you!" Harry squeaked, scooting away from Sirius as the other boy let out another laugh. "Geez, if this is how you get all your dates - by flirting on the first day of knowing them - then no wonder you can't hold a relationship for more than a week!"

Chuckling, Sirius grinned innocently. "I'm just messing with you, mate. But..." Harry gulped as Sirius leaned over to whisper in his ear, "...that isn't to say that I'm not interested in you." With that Sirius ran off to the dorms, Harry chasing after him in a blushing mess as he stumbled over his own robes after the boy that certainly wasn't going to make returing to his own time and or reality very easy.

_Yet another complication to his already complicated life._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was it? This chapter practically wrote itself as I wasn't sure what to put into it - I think it turned out pretty good. 
> 
> Before you @ me and say "but James and Severus hated each other". You should probably read the tags and description again. While the golden trio and one other (kind of, but isn't a canon character) are from canon-verse, the rest of the characters are all AU. 
> 
> Also, if I recall correctly they were sent to this different universe in the morning - and now suddenly it's after dinner? It's not an inconsistency, and it's also not important. No one ever said that time travel/universe travel had to deliver you into the exact same point in the day.

**Author's Note:**

> So, how was the first chapter? Was it any good? Bad? Let me know! Feedback is always a great motivator! I know, Hermione was a bit OOC, but something about how she is always portrayed as someone who never makes mistakes or forgets about something seems unrealistic to me.
> 
> They haven't figured out that this isn't their universe yet, so be patient until they eventually do - it will only take a couple chapters, I assure you.
> 
> You may not see another update for awhile - my update schedule is a bit, shall we say, not good. I barely have one and rarely stick to it. Plus, I'm only posting this now so that the draft doesn't get deleted (I am very lazy and can't be bothered to back it up properly).
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. You'll see some of the other ships in chapters to come.


End file.
